The 2010 Football League Cup Final was the final match of the

2009–10 Football League Cup The 2009–10 Football League Cup (known as the Carling Cup due to the competition's sponsorship by lager brand Carling brewery, Carling) was the 50th season of the EFL Cup, Football League Cup, a knock-out competition for the top 92 Association ...

, the 50th season of the

Football League Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by t ...

, a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

competition for the 92 teams in the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

and

The Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...

. The match, played at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

on 28 February 2010, was won by

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...

, who beat

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park, ...

2–1. Aston Villa took the lead in the fifth minute of the game, via a

James Milner James Philip Milner (born 4 January 1986) is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for club Liverpool. A versatile player, Milner has played in multiple positions, including on the wing, in midfield and at full-back. ...

penalty kick A penalty shot or penalty kick is a play used in several sports whereby a goal is attempted during untimed play. Depending on the sport, when a player commits certain types of penalties, the opposition is awarded a penalty shot or kick attempt. ...

, but

Michael Owen Michael James Owen (born 14 December 1979) is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker for Liverpool, Real Madrid, Newcastle United, Manchester United and Stoke City, as well as for the England national team. Since r ...

equalised for Manchester United seven minutes later.

Wayne Rooney Wayne Mark Rooney (born 24 October 1985) is an English professional football manager and former player, who is the manager of Major League Soccer club D.C. United in the United States. He spent much of his playing career as a forward while ...

, who replaced the injured Owen shortly before half time, scored the winning goal with 16 minutes left to play. Manchester United went into the match as defending champions, having beaten

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

on penalties in the 2009 final. The win gave them their fourth Football League Cup title, their third in five years and their second in succession, becoming the first team to retain the trophy since Nottingham Forest in

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicis ...

. It was the first time Manchester United successfully defended a major cup, having been losing finalists as title holders in the

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

and

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; " Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discover ...

FA Cup, and the

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; Protests ...

Champions League finals. Since Manchester United qualified for the

2010–11 UEFA Champions League The 2010–11 UEFA Champions League was the 56th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 19th under the UEFA Champions League format. The final was held at Wembley Stadium in London on 28 May 2011, wher ...

via their league position, the place in the following season's Europa League which would have been given to the winners of the League Cup was instead given to Villa, since they finished in sixth place in the

2009–10 Premier League The 2009–10 Premier League (known as the Barclays Premier League for sponsorship reasons) was the 18th season of the Premier League since its establishment in 1992. A total of 20 teams competed in the league, with Chelsea unseating the thre ...

Background

Out of the 173 previous meetings between the two sides, Manchester United had won 87 and Aston Villa had won 49, with the remaining 37 games finishing as draws; however, Villa's record in the League Cup against United was markedly better, with four wins in six matches between them. United's only League Cup win over Aston Villa came in October 1975, when they won 2–1 at

Villa Park Villa Park is a football stadium in Aston, Birmingham, England, with a seating capacity of 42,682. It has been the home of Premier League side Aston Villa since 1897. The ground is less than a mile from both Witton and Aston railway station ...

in the third round. The only previous meeting between the two teams in the final of the competition came in

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nels ...

, when Villa won 3–1 and United winger

Andrei Kanchelskis Andrei Antanasovich Kanchelskis ( uk, Андрій Антанасович Канчельскіс; russian: Андрей Антанасович Канчельскис; born 23 January 1969) is a professional football manager and former player. He ...

became the first player to be sent off in a League Cup final. Aston Villa hold the advantage over Manchester United in the league matches between the two sides in 2009–10, having beaten the Premier League champions 1–0 at

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wembl ...

in December and holding them to a 1–1 draw at

three weeks before the League Cup final. Both Manchester United and Aston Villa had played in seven Football League Cup finals, but Manchester United had only won three compared to Villa's five. United's most recent victory, however, came in

– when they beat Tottenham Hotspur on

penalties Penalty or The Penalty may refer to: Sports * Penalty (golf) * Penalty (gridiron football) * Penalty (ice hockey) * Penalty (rugby) * Penalty (rugby union) * Penalty kick (association football) * Penalty shoot-out (association football) * Penalty ...

– whereas Villa's last League Cup title came in

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 800, causing the plane to crash and killing everyone o ...

, when they beat

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road ...

3–0. Manchester United went into the match looking to become the first team to retain the League Cup since Nottingham Forest in

Road to Wembley

Pre-match

Ticketing

Since 2008, the final of the Football League Cup has been played at

in London. The stadium has a capacity of 90,000 spectators, and each team received an allocation of 31,750 tickets for their supporters. Both clubs chose to limit their initial applications to season ticket holders, with priority given to those supporters who had attended more cup games up to that point in the season.

Match ball

The match ball for the 2010 League Cup final is a variation of the Mitre Revolve ball used by

. The ball is white and patterned with black with gold trim. 150 balls were produced for the two teams to train with prior to the final, each of which is stamped with a unique identifying number and the date of the match. The ball also features a special logo that reads "FIFTY" – in recognition of the 50th season of the League Cup – where the letter I is replaced by an image of the League Cup trophy.

Officials

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands C ...

-based referee Phil Dowd was named as the referee for the 2010 League Cup final on 1 February 2010. His only previous cup final experience came in 2006, when he was the fourth official for the

2006 FA Cup Final The 2006 FA Cup Final was a football match played between Liverpool and West Ham United on 13 May 2006 at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff. It was the final match of the 2005–06 FA Cup, the 125th season of the world's oldest football knockou ...

. His assistants for the match were Shaun Procter-Green from

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-we ...

and David Richardson from

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...

, with

Lee Mason Lee Mason (born 29 October 1971)
and biography:

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancas ...

acting as fourth official.

Opening ceremony

The opening ceremony for the match began with the Football League Cup trophy being brought out onto the field of play by Manchester United fan Private Dave Tatlock of

2nd Battalion, The Parachute Regiment The Second Battalion, Parachute Regiment (2 PARA), is a battalion-sized formation of the Parachute Regiment, part of the British Army, and subordinate unit within 16th Air Assault Brigade whose Commanding Officer for the period 2013-2016 was Li ...

; Tatlock had been wounded while on tour in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is borde ...

in 2008. A piece of shrapnel embedded in his spine, leaving him paralysed, and he had been told by doctors that he would never walk again. Within four weeks, he regained feeling in his legs, and three months later he was able to walk with the aid of a stick. At the time of the match, he was waiting for an operation that would fully restore his mobility. The players and officials then emerged from the tunnel and lined up along a red carpet, accompanied by their team mascots; Manchester United's mascot was seven-year-old Charlie Simpson, selected for his fund-raising efforts in aid of the victims of the

2010 Haiti earthquake A catastrophic magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake struck Haiti at 16:53 local time (21:53 UTC) on Tuesday, 12 January 2010. The epicenter was near the town of Léogâne, Ouest department, approximately west of Port-au-Prince, Haiti's ca ...

, while Aston Villa were led out by six-year-old Ben Clay, whose identical twin Oliver has cerebral palsy and attends a hospice run by Acorns Children's Hospice, whose logo Aston Villa wear on their shirts. The teams were then presented to the day's guests of honour:

Brian Mawhinney Brian Stanley Mawhinney, Baron Mawhinney, (26 July 1940 – 9 November 2019) was a British Conservative Party politician. He was a member of the Cabinet from 1994 to 1997 and a member of Parliament (MP) from 1979 to 2005. Early life Mawhinney ...

, chairman of The Football League, and Martin Thomas, the Supply Chain Director of Molson Coors (UK), who own the Carling brand. Finally, the national anthem was sung by 21-year-old

Camilla Kerslake Camilla Kerslake is an English classical crossover singer from London who was the first signing to Gary Barlow's record label.

Match

Team selection

Aston Villa went into the match with only two players unavailable due to injury: forward Marlon Harewood (foot) and midfielder

Nigel Reo-Coker Nigel Shola Andre Reo-Coker (born 14 May 1984) is an English former professional footballer who played as a midfielder, as well as a football commentator and pundit for CBS Sports. Reo-Coker came through the youth team ranks at Wimbledon, and ...

(ankle); although midfielder Stiliyan Petrov had missed the previous game with a virus. Defender James Collins and forward Emile Heskey were both rested for Villa's FA Cup fifth round replay against

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...

on 24 February. Also rested was goalkeeper

Brad Friedel Bradley Howard Friedel (born May 18, 1971) is an American professional soccer coach and former player who played as a goalkeeper. Friedel played 84 games for the United States national team between 1992 and 2005, and represented his country a ...

, indicating manager

Martin O'Neill Martin Hugh Michael O'Neill, (born 1 March 1952) is a Northern Irish professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. Starting his career in Northern Ireland, O'Neill moved to England where he spent most of his play ...

's intention for Friedel to start the final, despite reserve goalkeeper

Brad Guzan Bradley Edwin Guzan (; born September 9, 1984) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a goalkeeper for Major League Soccer club Atlanta United FC. A college soccer second-team All-American for the South Carolina Gamecocks, Gu ...

having started each of Villa's other League Cup matches during the season. Defender

Stephen Warnock Stephen Warnock (born 12 December 1981) is an English former professional footballer who played as a defender. Starting off his career at Liverpool, he went on to also represent Coventry City, Bradford City, Blackburn Rovers, Aston Villa, Bol ...

had been suffering a shin problem earlier in the season, but he was given two weeks of rest before returning to the Villa side for their last three matches before the final to gain some match fitness. Manchester United, on the other hand, were beset by injury and suspension; midfielder

Ryan Giggs Ryan Joseph Giggs (né Wilson; 29 November 1973) is a Welsh football coach and former player. Regarded as one of the greatest players of his generation, Giggs played his entire professional career for Manchester United and briefly served as ...

broke his arm in the league match between the two teams 18 days earlier, forcing him to miss a month of the season, while fellow midfielder

Anderson Anderson or Andersson may refer to: Companies * Anderson (Carriage), a company that manufactured automobiles from 1907 to 1910 * Anderson Electric, an early 20th-century electric car * Anderson Greenwood, an industrial manufacturer * Anderson ...

suffered an injury to the cruciate ligament in his left knee against Everton and was ruled out for the remainder of the season. Defender

Rio Ferdinand Rio Gavin Ferdinand (born 7 November 1978) is an English former professional footballer who played as a centre-back, and is now a television pundit for BT Sport. He played 81 times for the England national team between 1997 and 2011, and w ...

had been expected to play in the match following a four-match suspension for an incident against

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving from Boothferry Park in 2002. The club's t ...

, but he suffered a recurrence of a back problem that had kept him out of contention for three months earlier in the season. Also missing with long-term injuries for United were midfielder Owen Hargreaves (knee) and defender

John O'Shea John Francis O'Shea (; born 30 April 1981) is an Irish professional football coach and former player. He was known for his versatility in playing several positions on either side of the pitch or the centre. Born in Waterford, O'Shea joined Man ...

(thigh), while midfielder Nani was suspended for three matches after being sent off for a two-footed tackle on Stiliyan Petrov in the match between United and Villa on 10 February. Aston Villa's team was as expected, with the possible exception of Friedel starting in goal ahead of Guzan. Martin O'Neill played a 4–4–2 formation with Heskey and Agbonlahor in attack and Ashley Young and

Stewart Downing Stewart Downing (born 22 July 1984) is an English former professional footballer. He played most of his career as a winger, where he operated predominantly on the left-hand side, though he could play on the right and go inside on to his stronge ...

on the wings, while Stephen Warnock was deemed fit enough to play at left-back and Stiliyan Petrov recovered from his virus to captain the side from central midfield. The biggest surprise in the teams selected by both managers was Sir Alex Ferguson's decision to leave in-form striker

on the bench, opting instead to partner

with

Dimitar Berbatov Dimitar Ivanov Berbatov ( bg, Димитър Иванов Бербатов; born 30 January 1981) is a Bulgarian former professional footballer. A striker, he captained the Bulgaria national team from 2006 to 2010, and is the country's all-ti ...

up front and play four in midfield. Also surprising was Ferguson's decision to play

Tomasz Kuszczak Tomasz Mirosław Kuszczak (; born 20 March 1982) is a Polish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Born in Krosno Odrzańskie, Kuszczak previously played for Śląsk Wrocław in Poland, as well as for the German clubs KFC ...

in goal ahead of

Edwin van der Sar Edwin van der Sar (; born 29 October 1970) is a Dutch football executive and former professional player who is currently the chief executive of AFC Ajax, with whom he began his senior playing career in the early 1990s; he is considered to be a m ...

, who had been rested in midweek. It later came to light that Rooney had a minor knee injury and was named on the bench as a precaution.

Summary

First half

Aston Villa began the game quickly, earning an early free kick on the left wing before taking the lead with a

in the fifth minute; Gabriel Agbonlahor was played in behind the United defence and outpaced Nemanja Vidić to the penalty area, where the Serbian defender grabbed hold of the English striker's shirt before lunging in with a clumsy challenge. Referee Phil Dowd pointed to the penalty spot immediately, but chose not to show Vidić a red card, despite Vidić being the last defender between Agbonlahor and the goal. James Milner took the penalty and sent goalkeeper Tomasz Kuszczak the wrong way with a side-footed finish to the bottom-right corner. Manchester United equalised seven minutes later after capitalising on an uncharacteristic mistake by Richard Dunne. Dimitar Berbatov caught Dunne in possession inside the Aston Villa half and ran towards the goal; although Dunne was able to catch up to Berbatov, his tackle only succeeded in finding its way to Michael Owen on the edge of the penalty area, where he swept the ball past Brad Friedel into the bottom-left corner of the goal. Milner had a chance to double his tally and restore his side's lead four minutes later with a left-footed shot from outside the penalty area, but Kuszczak kept the scores level with a diving, two-handed save. As the first half drew to a close, Owen pulled up with a hamstring injury as he chased down a ball into the Aston Villa penalty area; Wayne Rooney came on to replace him in the 41st minute. Park Ji-sung almost gave Manchester United the lead in injury time at the end of the first half, as James Collins' attempted clearance from Antonio Valencia's cross fell to him just inside the penalty area, but his shot hit the post.

Second half

Michael Carrick had the first significant chance of the second half in the 49th minute, when he forced Friedel into a low, diving save after making space for himself with a neat turn on the edge of the box. It took until the 74th minute for United to take the lead, as Rooney beat Friedel with a looping header; Berbatov found Valencia on the right side of the penalty area near the goal line, and the Ecuadorian stood up a cross into the centre, where Rooney outjumped Collins to head back across goal his 28th goal of the season. Rooney almost scored again with another header three minutes later, but it hit the foot of the left-hand post. Villa's search for an equaliser resulted in Norwegian striker John Carew coming on for Spanish right-back Carlos Cuellar with 10 minutes to play, and Carew almost had an immediate impact; as Stewart Downing crossed from the right wing, Carew's presence caused confusion in the Manchester United penalty area, and Vidić knew little about it as Heskey's header ricocheted off his shoulder and up onto the top of the crossbar. Dunne had a chance to equalise in the dying minutes as Downing chipped a cross to the far post, but he didn't make good enough contact on his header and it went harmlessly wide. United managed to survive the four minutes of injury time at the end of the second half to take the victory, the first team to retain the League Cup since Nottingham Forest in 1990 and the first time they had retained a cup trophy in their history.

Details

Statistics

Source: BBC Sport

References

{{Manchester United F.C. matches League Cup Final

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

League Cup Final 2010 League Cup Final 2010 2009–10 Football League February 2010 sports events in the United Kingdom